Police find more than 65kg of cocaine hidden in pineapples

The pineapples containing cocaine had been transported from Costa Rica

Sabrina Barr
Tuesday 28 August 2018 11:14 BST
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Drugs discovered inside pineapple by police in Madrid

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Police in Madrid made an alarming discovery when they found more than 65kg of cocaine stashed inside pineapples at a food market.

The bust was made by authorities at the MercaMadrid market in the Spanish capital, the second largest fish market in the world.

Police were filmed throwing pineapples on the ground and smashing them open to reveal cylinders of cocaine concealed inside.

The pineapples had reportedly been transported from Costa Rica to the Portuguese port of Setúbal before finally being brought to MercaMadrid.

The police officers had to check every single pineapple in the batch for packets of cocaine.

The pineapples that were hiding the Class A drug contained approximately 800 to 7,000g of cocaine each, with reports stating that the police seized 67kg of cocaine in total.

According to investigators, the company that had imported the pineapples from Costa Rica had been using its imports as a cover-up in order to transport drugs into the European Union.

Police smash open pineapples containing cocaine at market in Madrid
Police smash open pineapples containing cocaine at market in Madrid (Central European News)

Local media was informed by the police that the pineapples had been hollowed out, with the cylinders of cocaine then placed inside.

The cylinders of cocaine had been previously placed in paraffin baths in order to mask the scent and therefore reduce the likelihood of the drugs being discovered.

Following the intervention of the police, three people in Madrid and four in Barcelona have been arrested in connection with the incident on suspicion of drug trafficking.

Local media outlets state that drugs have been found hidden amid fruit in Madrid before.

However, hiding the drugs within fruit is supposedly a new tactic being used by the drug traffickers.

The investigation into the trafficking of the drugs is continuing.

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